Chapter 553: Let Me Tell You a Story

"Elder Martial Brother Quyin."

The moment Xiao Mo stepped through the mountain gate of Four Void Temple, Xu Jing, who had been sweeping the ground at the entrance, spotted his elder martial brother's return, and quickly picked up his broom and ran happily toward him.

"Did everything go smoothly with the wedding today, Elder Martial Brother?" Xu Jing asked.

"Quite smoothly. The host family had no complaints about your elder martial brother." Xiao Mo said with a faint smile, handing the packed food box in his hand to Xu Jing. "The vegetarian dishes you wanted taste quite good, especially the braised eggplant. The cook's specialty, made with real flavor."

"Many thanks, Elder Martial Brother!" Xu Jing grabbed the food box and made to run back into the temple, but was stopped short when Xiao Mo caught him by the collar.

"Leaving already?" Xiao Mo pointed at the fallen leaves scattered on the ground, his tone gentle but leaving no room for evasion. "Once you have finished sweeping the ground."

"Oh..." Xu Jing had no choice but to set the food box carefully to one side, half-heartedly dragging the broom back and forth, thinking only of finishing the task quickly.

"Sweep it properly." Xiao Mo shook his head with resignation, but said nothing further, turning and walking at an unhurried pace into the temple.

Passing through the temple's front hall, Xiao Mo arrived before the abbot's courtyard and gave a respectful bow, hands pressed together. "Abbot."

"Mm."

The abbot Yuankong, who had been reading through a sutra, set the text down and looked up with a smile at his most promising disciple.

"By rights, officiating a wedding should not have kept you out this late. Did you perhaps go somewhere else to enjoy yourself? You even carry a faint trace of a woman's scent... surely you did not go drinking at a flower house?"

"This disciple would not dare." Xiao Mo shook his head and told the truth.

"It is only that on my way up the mountain, I saw a young woman who had fallen down a slope and sprained her ankle. She could not walk properly, and with it growing dark and no one nearby to call for help, this disciple carried her home."

"I see." Yuankong gave a nod, his tone full of trust, without the slightest doubt about his own disciple's account. "Is the woman's injury serious?"

"Nothing serious." Xiao Mo said. "This disciple left her our temple's bruise-and-sprain medicine. She should recover before long."

"Good, then." Yuankong stroked his beard lightly and gave a reminder. "Evening practice is about to begin. Prepare yourself and go to the main hall for sutra recitation. Do not be late."

"Yes, Abbot." Xiao Mo gave a bow, hands pressed together, and turned to withdraw.

Night fell.

Once the last of the temple visitors had been sent off, the gates of Four Void Temple were closed.

All the monks made their way to the main hall, sat properly on their prayer cushions, and recited the sutras together, performing their unwavering evening practice.

As the chanting of the hundred monks of Four Void Temple drifted gently through the air, echoing through every corner of the temple, the pure moonlight falling from the night sky seemed, in that moment, to take on a faint golden tinge but tonight, as Xiao Mo recited the sutras, though his lips continued to form the words, his mind kept drifting involuntarily back to the woman he had encountered that afternoon.

Recalling her every smile, her every expression.

Recalling every word she had said.

Recalling every small moment... from his time together with Jingci in the past.

Without quite noticing it, his voice reciting the sutras gradually fell silent.

Without quite noticing it, he slowly opened his eyes.

The moment Xiao Mo opened his eyes, what met his gaze was the abbot's kindly, smiling face.

About half an incense stick's time later, the other monks' recitation also gradually quieted, until it stopped entirely.

With evening practice finished, the monks rose one after another, gave the abbot a bow with hands pressed together, and concluded their cultivation for the day.

Only Xiao Mo did not leave, still sitting quietly beneath the Buddha statue.

Before the statue, an old man and a young one sat facing each other.

"Rather unusual." The abbot Yuankong looked at Xiao Mo, his tone gentle and unhurried. "This is the first time, from your childhood to now, that you have drifted off during sutra recitation."

"This disciple was distracted. I ask the abbot's punishment." Xiao Mo lowered his head, a note of guilt in his tone.

"Ha, you are human, not the true Buddha himself. Being human, is it so surprising to drift off once? What would there be to punish?"

Master Yuankong looked quietly into his disciple's eyes, his gaze full of understanding.

"You went to Cloud Village today to officiate a wedding, and saved a woman on top of that. You must be tired. Eat your evening meal and rest early."

"Yes, Abbot." Xiao Mo rose and gave a bow. "This disciple will take his leave now. May the abbot also rest well."

"Mm." Yuankong gave a small acknowledgment, watching Xiao Mo turn and leave.

Only once his disciple's figure had disappeared entirely from view did Yuankong slowly close his eyes, shake his head gently, and let out a quiet sigh.

Back in his own courtyard, Xiao Mo sat down on the stone bench, raised his head, and looked at the quiet night sky.

The bright moon hanging in the air seemed, somehow, to reflect the woman's face.

He genuinely had not expected that Jingci would find him this quickly.

This was a good thing but also a troublesome one.

"All conditioned phenomena are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow, like dew or like lightning, thus should they be contemplated."

"If one seeks me by form, or seeks me by sound, this person walks a deviant path, and cannot see the Tathagata."

The following morning, the sky just beginning to lighten, morning light filtered through the hall's windows, falling across the shoulders of the Buddha statue and the monks.

Xiao Mo sat, as he did every morning, properly seated within the main hall, eyes closed, reciting the sutras.

After morning practice concluded, Xiao Mo had no need to travel down the mountain that day.

His duty was to receive visiting pilgrims in the hall, interpreting fortune signs for them and answering their questions.

If he had time to spare, he could also sit to the side and read through the scriptures.

"Monk, we meet again."

Not long after Xiao Mo had settled down, a woman's gentle, amused voice suddenly sounded beside his ear.

Xiao Mo raised his head and saw Tushan Jingci standing beside him, graceful and elegant, a smile on her face.

"Has the young lady's foot healed?" Xiao Mo asked.

"Not entirely, but your medicine works well. I can walk on my own now, though it still hurts a little when I do."

Tushan Jingci blinked at Xiao Mo, her tone carrying a note of softness.

"And I felt I really should come and thank the monk properly for saving me yesterday."

The woman paused, then held out a box of pastries. "These pastries are a small token of my appreciation. Please do not think it beneath you, monk."

"The young lady is too generous. Saving people is simply the duty of a disciple of the Buddha." Xiao Mo shook his head gently, declining politely.

"That will not do." Tushan Jingci's tone grew earnest, carrying a note of stubbornness. "Repaying kindness is only natural. Whether you seek any return is your business as a monk, but repaying you is mine."

The moment the words left her mouth, Tushan Jingci placed the box of pastries firmly on the table before Xiao Mo.

"You are not allowed to refuse."

The woman's voice carried a note of playful insistence.

"Well... all right then. I will accept it." Seeing that there was truly no way to decline, Xiao Mo could only give a helpless nod.

"That is more like it." Tushan Jingci said happily. "Speaking of which, monk, what exactly do you do here?"

"Fortune-telling, interpreting fortune signs." Xiao Mo answered honestly.

"Something like what Daoists do with fortune-telling?" The woman blinked and asked further.

"You could understand it that way." Xiao Mo gave a nod.

"Then can I ask for a fortune reading?" Tushan Jingci's eyes lit up at once, looking eager to try.

"Of course you may." Xiao Mo asked, "What kind of fortune would the young lady like to ask about?"

"Marriage."

Tushan Jingci said it directly, looking deeply into his eyes.

Xiao Mo gave a small pause at this, but said nothing further, only giving a gentle nod, and set the bamboo tube in his hand before Tushan Jingci, his tone even. "Young lady, write down your birth date and time, then shake the tube. Whichever stick falls out will be your reading."

"All right."

After writing down her birth details, Tushan Jingci took the bamboo tube, held it in both hands against her chest, and shook it continuously, the sticks rattling loudly inside.

At last, a single bamboo stick slid out from the tube's mouth and fell gently onto the table.

Xiao Mo reached out and picked up the stick, reading the inscribed text carefully.

Tushan Jingci's eyes flickered with anticipation, and she could not help pressing him. "Master, what does this reading mean?"

"What is meant to be will find its way to you in time, what is not meant to be should not be forced. The young lady's nature, I would guess, tends toward being a little too persistent. But sometimes, letting things follow their natural course may be the better choice." Xiao Mo said honestly.

Tushan Jingci listened quietly, and a faint smile rose to her lips.

She raised her head, those lovely fox eyes looking straight at Xiao Mo, and spoke slowly, word by word.

"But Master..."

"What if I simply like it, and insist on forcing it regardless?"

Xiao Mo found himself momentarily at a loss for words, falling silent.

"Ha, well..."

Seeing Xiao Mo's difficulty in finding an answer, Tushan Jingci covered her lips, her eyes curving with laughter.

"All right, all right, I will stop teasing the master. I have some other matters to attend to, so I will take my leave now. I will come back to see the master again later."

Xiao Mo pressed his hands together and gave a small nod. "Safe travels, young lady."

"Farewell, master." Tushan Jingci looked deeply at Xiao Mo for a long moment before finally drawing her gaze away and turning to leave Four Void Temple.

Once the woman's figure had disappeared beyond the temple gate, Xiao Mo drew his own gaze back, settling it on the bamboo stick still resting quietly on the table.

He did not know how long he sat there, lost in thought over that single stick, before finally reaching out to pick it up and return it to the bamboo tube.

Another day passed.

The monks of Four Void Temple finished evening practice, left the main hall, and went to eat their evening meal but that evening, during sutra recitation, Xiao Mo drifted off again.

According to temple rules, drifting off twice in a row during recitation meant one had to remain alone in the main hall and recite an additional half hour of sutras.

Though the abbot, Master Yuankong, had gently told Xiao Mo, "This is nothing serious. The temple's rules are generally quite relaxed. There is no need to be too hard on yourself."

Xiao Mo still felt it was wrong to let it pass. If he had made a mistake, he should accept the consequence.

And so that night, once everyone else had left, he knelt properly before the Buddha statue in the main hall, closed his eyes, and began reciting the sutras once more.

"Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, while practicing the profound Prajnaparamita, perceived that all five aggregates are empty, and thus overcame all suffering."

"Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form, form is emptiness, emptiness is form. The same is true for feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness."

"Shariputra, all dharmas are marked with emptiness..."

The clear, steady sound of recitation flowed slowly from his lips.

Xiao Mo's voice carried far and lingered long, passing through every plant and every brick of the front courtyard, echoing for a long while in the quiet of the night.

And at that very moment, the front gate of Four Void Temple, which had never once been locked, was pushed open silently.

A woman slipped quietly inside, her footsteps as light as a thief's, the hem of her skirt brushing over the stone steps as she made her careful way across the courtyard, moving toward the main hall.

Arriving at the hall's entrance, the woman reached out and gripped the doorframe, poking her head out to look at the man inside, eyes closed, reciting the sutras, and called softly, "Hey, monk, monk... monk..."

Xiao Mo slowly opened his eyes and turned, finding Miss Jingci standing at the entrance, beckoning to him with a bright smile.

"Miss Jingci?" Xiao Mo gave a small start, a note of surprise in his tone. "It is so late. What brings the young lady here?"

"Your temple's front gate was not locked. It opened right up when I pushed it, so naturally I came in." Tushan Jingci hopped happily to Xiao Mo's side and settled herself obediently beside him, tilting her head. "Why are you still reciting sutras? Do you not need to eat?"

Xiao Mo shook his head with a smile and explained, "I drifted off a little during evening practice today. According to the temple's rules, I need to recite an extra half hour."

"I see..." Tushan Jingci tilted her head slightly, her lovely fox eyes looking at Xiao Mo with curiosity. "So why did you drift off, monk?"

"Because..." Xiao Mo had barely begun to speak when, looking into the woman's innocent, curious eyes, he felt something catch in his chest, and he swallowed back the words that had risen to his lips, only shaking his head gently. "It is nothing much."

"Hmph, so stingy, monk. Fine, do not tell me then." Tushan Jingci pushed out her lips and turned her head away, appearing faintly displeased but after only a moment, the woman's head turned back toward him, and she said with lively enthusiasm, "Oh? I think you must be rather bored here. Why not let me tell you a story?"

"I am not bored. I am still reciting sutras." Xiao Mo said.

"But I am bored. Let me tell you a story." Tushan Jingci coaxed.

Xiao Mo gave a light smile and asked gently, "What kind of story would the young lady like to tell?"

"Well..." Tushan Jingci tilted her head, considering, and then a bright flash lit up her eyes.

"Oh! I have it! Let me tell you a story about a fox and a book attendant."

"A fox and a book attendant?" Xiao Mo gave a small start, following her lead.

"All right..."

Tushan Jingci cleared her throat, and her voice, clear and pleasant as a silver bell, drifted softly through the hall.

"Once upon a time, there was a little fox. She was a young lady of a great household, but on ordinary days, no one really had time to play with her."

"But one day, this young lady met a little boy about her own age."